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Court Orders CIA to Comply With Request For Torture Records

ACLU Press ReleaseFebruary 2, 2005

NEW
YORK--A federal judge today rejected an attempt by the Central
Intelligence Agency to indefinitely delay the processing and release of
critical documents pertaining to the torture or abuse of detainees held
by the United States government. The ruling relates to a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request filed more than a year ago by the
American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations.

"The
public has a right to information about the CIA's role in the abuse and
torture of detainees," said ACLU attorney Jameel Jaffer. "We are
hopeful that today's order will encourage the CIA to finally comply
with our request for information."

The
FOIA request was filed by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional
Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and
Veterans for Peace. The New York Civil Liberties Union is co-counsel
with the ACLU in the case.

In
September, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein issued an order requiring all of
the government agencies named in the lawsuit to search and review their
files for records responsive to the FOIA request. However, at a hearing
on December 22, the CIA argued that it did not have to search its
operational files. In today's ruling, Hellerstein found that the CIA
"failed to articulate a viable reason" why the agency's operational
files should be exempt from the September order.

Hellerstein
also noted that the CIA's Inspector General is conducting an
investigation into impropriety and possible criminal activity by CIA
personnel in Iraq, and that the CIA has already searched its
operational files in connection with that investigation.

Thus
far, the ACLU and other organizations have received and disseminated
more than 23,000 pages of documents in response to the lawsuit. The
records received from the government agencies, which include the FBI,
Justice Department and State Department, have shown patterns of
widespread abuse of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
The documents also show a rift between government agencies on the use
of torture.

In addition to documents,
the FOIA request also seeks videotapes and photographs depicting the
treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and other detention
facilities. However, the Defense Department has so far refused to
release these items. The ACLU and other organizations filed a brief on
January 13 arguing that the Defense Department is withholding these
materials unlawfully, and that any legitimate privacy interests in
withholding the photographs and videotapes can be accommodated by
obscuring the faces of the individuals depicted.

The
Defense Department has asked the court to extend the deadline for
processing remaining documents, which was originally scheduled for
January 31. Attorneys for the organizations will appear in federal
court in New York on February 22 to address this issue.

The
lawsuit is being handled by Lawrence Lustberg and Megan Lewis of the
New Jersey-based law firm Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger &
Vecchione, P.C. Other attorneys in the case are Jaffer, Amrit Singh,
Omar Jadwat and Judy Rabinovitz of the ACLU; Art Eisenberg and Beth
Haroules of the NYCLU; and Barbara Olshansky and Jeff Fogel of the CCR.